Napoleon's Tomb

July 1, 2010
It is 3:00 am and I cannot sleep here in Paris. My time clock is all kookoo so here I sit in a dark room with just the computer screen illuminated to keep me company.

Yesterday I woke up to Eric handing me a pastry - yummy. He brought me a type of croissant with chocolate in the middle. He was smiling ear to ear, excited to be in Paris. I was going to sleep some more but after I had consumed the pastry I was covered in flakes of itchy pastry that had crumbled off.

Eric was a wee bit sad because the cute girl at the bakery was not working so we had to stop there again for lunch and both Michael and Eric got a yummy pizza. They were so funny trying to flirt with the sweet girl who cannot speak English. Today they figured out how to ask her name...perhaps when we visit in the morning for pastries they will work up the courage.Around noon we were on our way to catch the Metro to Napoleon's tomb which is buried in the Sait-Louis des Invalides church and dome. I didn't realize how little I knew about Napoleon. It was fun googling Napoleon to find out basic facts. Also, there is a fabulous exhibit of Armory beginning with Medieval times and moving through D-day and 1945. It is amazing the change of warfare from arrowheads to bomber planes. We chuckled at several suits of armor that had ears, eyes and facial features molded on the head pieces. They were almost cartoonish. There was one that was an intricately carved chicken or duck head. It even had nostril holes on the beak. Imagine that - an intimidating man in a suit of armor with the head of a chicken.

Jet lag had set in as we were finishing up the museum. I was worried that if I sat down I would fall asleep on the bench and the thought of trying to make it all the way home was almost too much to bear. My body felt very heavy and just wanted to lie down. Eric took the Metro back to the house while Michael wanted to cross the Seins river to see if we could see the Arc de Triumph. We made it across the river and I told Michael that I just couldn't go any farther. The heat mixed with the fatigue was wearing me out. We braved up and bought bottled water from a man standing selling them for 1 euro each. We were so happy to have water. We were hoping it was cold but no such luck.

We made it back to the house. I was thrilled to see Eric's shoes and socks on the floor when we opened the front door. He had no money on him and I had worried that he might have taken the wrong train or something. Michael never made it past the couch that is 3 feet in the doorway. He fell on the couch and didn't move for 4 hours until I woke the boys up to come to the grocery store so we could buy food for dinner.

We ended up buying what I think was flank steak, pasta and green beans. I cooked dinner at 9:30 pm so we had a late dinner and once again went to bed around midnight.

I must close this computer and TRY to get some sleep or I am going to drag around again today. So, off I go to stare at a dark room until the sun comes up